Appearance
It is an evergreen shrub which grows as a vine if provided with support. As such it grows to 20 m, climbing by means of small rootlets on the stems, similar to ivy. Like ivy, it also has a sterile non-flowering juvenile climbing or creeping phase, which on reaching high enough into the crowns of trees to get more light, develops into an adult, flowering phase without climbing rootlets.The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 2–6 cm long and 1–3 cm broad, with finely serrated margins. The flowers are inconspicuous, 5 mm in diameter, with four small greenish-yellow petals. The fruit is a smooth, dehiscent capsule with reddish arils.
Naming
It is named after the Scottish botanist and plant explorer Robert Fortune.References:
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